Saturday, March 11, 2006

Shatner at Law

I just saw a TV spot for a KC law firm with William Shatner as the pitchman. Gotta love Shatner. A few years ago I couldn't stand him, and from the early previews of Boston Legal I thought I would dislike him even more. Boston Legal, as crazy and unrealistic as it is, has really given me a new appreciation for William Shatner. Mainly because it's so crazy and unrealistic. Shatner plays a pretty convincing crackpot.

He does a pretty good job selling the firm, too. Too bad I can't remember the name. I was so excited to see "Denny Crane" I forgot who the ad was for. Maybe he's *too* effective, if that's possible.

2 comments:

Interesting point you raise actually. That's something we studied in advertising. I don't remember the specific terminology for it, but often commercials that people "remember," or "like," still do not do well with brand recognition.

I suppose that could be the case here. People are so excited to see Shatner is doing an ad, then they see the name of some law firm, (they've seen hundreds of those), they pay no attention. Law firms probably need shorter names if they expect people to remember them. I did filing at a place named GreyCary. Huge firm, short name. Makes sense to me. What's the benefit of having 3 or 4 names anyway? They're usually all dead or lame anyway. And who wants to remember all those names? We can't even remember the names of our state senators.

I saw the commercial tonight, and I've already forgotten the name of the firm. I think what it is is that you have to use the Shatner-type ad after people already recognize your name. At that point, they are able to immediately associate something they like with something with which they are familiar. As it is, it will take several ads before I'm able to recall the name of the firm.